Day 161 : Back to Winthrop

8th October 2013
Pateros to Winthrop
Mileage : 35

Teresa wasn't able to give me a ride this morning unfortunately, but instead she had arranged for two of her neighbours, Paul and Jan, to give me ride.  As Teresa had promised at 7am there was a car outside the hostel waiting to take me off towards Pateros. The plan today was to hike back to Winthrop one more time in order for me to take advantage of the hostel, and avoid having to stealth camp by the side of the road, and also to enable me to slack pack and therefore cover more miles. After a quick stop at a local coffeeshop/ bakery i was speeding down the road towards Pateros chatting with Paul and Jan about the trail. As i sat there sipping my coffee and eating my pastry in the warmth of the car, i reflected that, although in some ways my hike has gone pear-shaped in the past few weeks, in others i have been fortunate to the point where it beggars belief. Here i was sitting in the car of two complete strangers who had agreed to help me out on the insistence of their neighbour. It was incredible, and no less so when i thought about it from their perspective, agreeing to pick up a single guy from a hostel that they'd never met and agree to drive him 35 miles down the road at 7 in the morning. The way the trail provides is downright spooky at times. I realised very early on during my hike that although i enjoy the nature and wilderness element more than i know how to describe, i enjoy the human element even more than that, an this morning was the perfect example of that. I could have sat in the car chatting to Paul and Jan all day, but all too soon it was time to get out and start the long hike back to Winthrop. I thanked the couple for their help that morning, watched them drive away, and then set off. Most of the day was spent listening to an audiobook, Game of Thrones if anyone is interested, and the time passed quickly as i lost myself in the story. For a good portion of the day i managed to walk along quiet country roads enabling me to lose myself in the book without too much fear of getting run over line the many deer that unfortunately were dotted along the route every few miles. After what seemed like only a couple hours i was walking, if not hobbling after 35 road miles, back into Winthrop. Going passed the town supermarket i decided pop in and get some stuff for dinner whereupon i was surrounded by several guys about my age that had overtaken me in their car a little while earlier, and couldn't quite believe their ears when i told tten i was finishing up a Mexico to Canada thru-hike. After much insistence on my part, the finally agreed i must be telling the truth and all.wanted.to have their pictures taken with me. I am now a minor celebrity it would seem. My 15 minutes over i covered the final few hundred metres back to the hostel slowly as i began to seize up from the cold of the supermarket's air-conditioning and reflected that it had been a good day, and i hoped the next would be similar.

Day 160 : The road walk begins

7th October 2013
Rainy Pass to Winthrop
mileage : 35

Today i started the 225 mile hike from Rainy Pass to Snoqualamie Pass. My alarm went off just after 6am and i gathered what i needed for the day before jumping in he car for the ride up to the pass. My ride today was thanks to Teresa, a local trail angel who has been living in Winthrop for a few years now and has been acting as an angel for some time. After a quick stop at the local coffee shop we were climbing up into the mountains once again. I was deposited safe and sound at the top of the pass and after having thanked Teresa profusely for her kindness started along the the road back towards Winthrop. Although i easy on the road and not the trail, it felt great to be hiking once again, and finally on my way toward the finish line. Since making my decision to continue the hike my morale has had a huge boost. Unfortunately i won't be finishing the hike as i had originally anticipated, but at least i would finish on my own terms, and crucially i would have my continuous Mexico to Canada thru-hike. It took 10 hours exactly to hike the 35 miles to Winthrop, and by the end of it my feet and and leg muscles were hot, tired and sore, yet i felt good. About 2 miles from the end i called out to a passing cyclist to ask him how far i still had to go, and to my surprise an english accented voice replied. The cyclist,whose name was Derek, was slowly touring round the Northwest on his bike and was doing a short day cycle up the road and back. His company helped distract me from the pain in my feet and we swapped stories for a while as we entered the town before having dinner together at a local Mexican restaurant where i went to fill.up on homemade guacamole among other tasty treats. After so many miles i was struggling to stay awake, and finally had to makey way back to the hostel and get some rest before  doing it all.again tomorrow.

Day 159 : The hike continues

6th October 2013
No miles

Today i set about planning the final leg of my PCT hike. Having arrived last night in Winthrop at silly o'clock in the morning i didn't get a full nights sleep, but nevertheless was up early planning my road walk. Google maps informed me the totally.distance was 225 miles. A long way, but i was committed to doing it. It felt better than i had in weeks as i planned out my route, knowing that in a week's time I'd finally completed my hike. Given how unpleasant road walking is i wanted to slackpack as much as possible thus reducing the pain on my feet so planned for me first day to leave my rucksack and most of my stuff at the hostel, get a ride up to the pass, and hike back to the hostel. At the hostel i tracked down a number for a local trail angel, and very soon had my ride sorted. Logistics planning complete i spent the rest of the day catching up with some north bound hikers informing them as best i could about the conditions up on the trail. I also caught up with my blog, which i know has suffered over the last few days, and had time to read the comments and words of encouragement so many of you have been writing on my blog and Facebook. My thanks to you all for these comments, the last few days have been very difficult, but the encouraging comments you've all left help make up my mind to join up the missing dots and finally finish my PCT hike.

Day 158 : A return to Winthrop

5th October 2013
No miles

To all my readers who have been following my blog over the last 5.5 months i want to first thank you all for reading it, and  apologise for my erratic behaviour over the last few weeks. I have no doubt that the quality of what i have been writing over the last few weeks has suffered greatly as a result the emotional rollercoaster i have been riding since i got back on trail at White Pass. I don't tend to articulate my feelings well at the best of times, and have really struggled to keep up the entries while the events the past couple of weeks unfolded. In a month or two i will try and re-write some of them, but for the moment all i can do is apologise and hope you understand.

After a lazy morning Peter Pan, Hoop Dreams, Dishcloth and myself packed up or stuff and checked out of the motel. They were all headed north into Canada for a few days, and i was headed back to Seattle before continuing back down to San Diego, from where a new adventure would begin for me (more on this later). Yesterday i had bumped into Bob and Kelley, Jess' parents, at Manning Park who were there to meet Jess as she came of the trail. Being the wonderful people that they are they immediately offered me a ride back to Seattle so all i had to do was hitch back across to Manning Park and meet up with them. Hitch complete i was back in the lobby of the lodge milling about and chatting to various family members of hikers that were due in that evening. It was here that i bumped into Chosen One, and had my all my plans turned on their head. Chosen one had hiked on his own from Hart's Pass through waist deep snow to finish his PCT odyssey and was close to tears as he came to terms with it all. He had broken trail for 3 days in waist deep snow all on his own in an attempt to get to the monument i time to meet up with a friend who had been filming him all the way up. His friend, whose name i forget, told me that they were headed back to Winthrop that evening and that I'd be welcome to join them if i wanted a ride. As he said this i decided my PCT was not quite over. One reason i had decided that it was over was that logistically it would have been a nightmare to get back to Winthrop, from where i could continue hiking south to connect the dots from Rainy Pass to Snoqualamie Pass and finally finish my hike from Mexico to Canada. These guys however, had just provided me with a way to get some real closure. Right from outset my goal has always been to hike a continuous line from Mexico to Canada, not worrying too much if i missed little bits of the PCT as long as a line of footprints remained intact. From Snoqualamie Pass, i skipped first up to White Pass and the Dinsmore's, and then up to Winthrop and Rainy Pass from where i hiked into Canada. So in order to connect the dots i would need to road walk over 200 miles, a daunting prospect, but there and then i resolved to do it. Before heading back down to the US a big group arrived from the border including Jess and Hercules, and also Goldielocks and Frosty. They all looked totally done in by their experience out in the snow, but i was thoroughly jealous. Seeing them finish successfully hardened my resolve to do the road miles and finally finish the PCT. Having said goodbye to everyone, Chosen One, his friend, Rafiki and myself started the long drive south to the border arriving back at the Winthrop hostel sometime just after 3am. i was unbelievably tired when i finally climbed into and fell asleep almost instantly content to at last being on course to finish my continuous hike from Mexico to Canada.

Day 157 : The monument

4th October 2013
Manning Park to the northern terminus of the PCT on the US-Mexican border, and back again
Mileage : 16

I made up my mind this morning to accept that my PCT adventure was over. I have hiked about 2460 miles over the course of about 5.5 months, and should feel proud of my accomplishment. The final thing we had left.to do was to go to the border monument and have our pictures taken at the border, so we got up early, drove to Manning Park and started the final hike on the PCT. The PCT terminates at the Canadian border, but as the border crossing is in the wilderness there is an eight mile hike from there to Manning Park in British Columbia, but obviously for US it was an out and back hike starting and finishing at Manning Park. The weather was absolutely gorgeous for that final hike. Cold and clear, with stunning views of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains it was the perfect way to say goodbye to the trail. We covered the 8 miles to the border and soon enough arrived at the monument. It was a bittersweet moment when saw it. I have seen the monument so many times in countless blogs that i read prior to my hike, and couldn't quite believe that i was there. I didn't know if my mixed emotions were due to how i finished my hike, or simply due to the fact that my adventure was over. Nevertheless i was glad to have gotten there at all and to be done with it all. Many photos later it was time leave it all behind and return to Manning Park, and the next adventure, whatever that might be. Arriving back in Manning Park we had dinner with Cuddles, Atlas, Aloha and Toots and enjoyed a final dinner among friends. Before long though it was time to head back to Hope, and say goodbye to Manning Park, and that night i slept better as i slowly started to accept that my hike was truly over.

Day 156 : Canada

3rd October 2013
May Creek to Canada
Mileage : 27

Today i hiked from the USA into Canada. My day started late as i only had about 25ish miles to the border and knew i would make it before dark. Eventhough i didn't get moving til 9am i didn't see anyone come past me, which i thought was weird. I didn't see anyone all day as i made my way through the forest towards the border until finally appearing almost right on the border to find a back country ranger, and a pair of hikers Two Bad Dogs, that i hadn't seen since Tehachapi. The three of them told me the only hikers they'd seen were Cuddles and Atlas who were about an hour ahead of me, so i guessed all the others were behind me, which was plausible given how late i hiked the night before. The ranger told me the border was technically closed, but seemed totally perturbed that i would cross anyway. I continued up a gravel road to the head of Ross Lake and the border, and crossed into Canada at 6:30pm. The crossing was decidedly nondescript, with just one sign saying i was crossing an international boundary and that was it. The whole experience was weirdly anticlimatic. On the other side of the crossing sat Aloha who had driven almost 400 miles to pick up hikers crossing the border. After a few congratulatory hugs he explained what had happened with the rangers at the road the day before, and it was not good. The rangers had indeed been there to stop us hikers from crossing the border, and i was the last of only 5 hikers to make it through. I felt gutted for the others, to have gotten all the way from Mexico to Rainy Pass and then get turned back  30 miles from the border. On the way back to Hope, where PRT was staying we passed Cuddles and Atlas road walking out from the border into Canada. These two were determined to hike from monument to monument, and so had another 50 more road miles to do to get back to the actual PCT monument, i though was content to have just made it to Canada, and had no intention of hiking a step farther into Canada than was absolutely necessary. A while later i met up with Diahcloth, Peter Pan and Hoopdreams in the motel they'd gotten in order to find out their plans. They had decided not to go back qjd do any road walking, so for them the PCT was over. For me though, i was in two minds. A large part of me was totally done with the PCT, the emotional and physical rollercoaster which i had endured over the previous 10 days had taken its toll.on me, and i had little to no desire to hike even one more mile of the PCT. But another, much smaller part of me knew that i would regret not hiking those final road miles, regardless of the pain would entail. I tried ti put i from my mind and had a few beers with the others reminiscing about our adventure over the last 5 months. Falling asleep that night i tried to feel pour of my accomplishment, but that feeling didn't really surface. Mostly i felt robbed and drained, robbed of the feeling of accomplishment that i should have been feeling and drained of any emotion with which to feel robbed. I mostly just felt tired. It was not the end that i had envisaged.

Day 155 : The border push

2nd October 2013
Rainy Pass to May Creek
Mileage : 27

We were all up early today doing final preparations for the push to the Canadian border. Having arrived so late last night i didn't know what the plan was so assumed.id be out for about 4 days and packed accordingly. It turned out the plan was to take an alternate route into Canada from Rainy Pass along Ross Lake, for a total distance of 50 miles. Nobody was really happy about doing this alternate, but it seemed like the only option, and for.me with my plethora of injuries it was definitely my only option. A convoy of cars left that.morning taking about 25 people up to Rainy Pass from where we would start. The snowline was pretty much at the pass where there was 3 inches of snow, but thankfully ir would mean that as soon as we started the road walk we'd be out of it. The group headed down the road was about 15 strong with the remainder out to try their luck out on the trail. Although a small.part of me was glad not to be going out there into the snow, i was mostly envious of them for giving it a go. I'd like to think if my body was in better shape, i would have gone with them, but i knew the alternate was the right decision for me given my particular circumstances. After many hugs and photos, with groups went their.separate ways, with me bringing up the rear of the road group. The road walk, although only 20 miles, was tough, but at least it was fast. I tried to distract myself with music and podcasts, but it was still tough. Many hours later i was done with the road walk and was sorting out my rucksack in the shelter of a small outhouse with a couple of other hikers including Kazu and and Shedder. Just as i had packed up everything a couple of park rangers pulled up and started talking to people at the cars just out of earshot. I think it was Shedder who was standing right next to me and said "i wonder if they're here to stop us hiking". I panicked. For those readers that don't know, the US government at the moment is closed for business, and that includes the national parks. There are a great many things that i like very much about the US, a couple things that i don't, and one or two things that i just don't get, and this includes the US political system. I will spare you all further ramblings on this, but the shutdown for us hikers meant that trails in national parks are closed. 30 seconds after Shedder had spoken i had my rucksack on and was disappearing down the trail into the forest and away from the rangers before they spotted me. For the rest of the day i headed on my own through the rain and wet forest along the edge of Ross Lake towards Canada. I was trying to catch Cuddles and Atlas, who were only a little way ahead of me, but i never did as my.pace was.slowed by my knee. The dark enveloped me more quickly that i was expecting and had to finish in the pitch dark getting my feet drenched in the last 100 metres fording a ranging river at my campsite. I set up my camp in through rain and crawled into my tent perhaps for the last time before i crossed the border the next day into Canada.